Waldorf salad was invented around 1893 – 1896 at the Hotel Waldorf in Manhattan NY. Danes have since then taken this wonderful salad to heart. It’s enjoyed mostly during the fall and winter months and in some families it may also be found on the Christmas table. There are of course many variations of this salad. It can be made with mayonnaise or yogurt and in Denmark some may also add a little whipped cream to the dressing. It can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish to game. This recipe comes from my sister Jonna who makes a “knaldgod” or fabulous Waldorf salad. Enjoy!

Waldorf Salad

Ingredients:

2 1/2 deciliter Creme Fraiche (212 g or 7.5 oz)

1 1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

juice from a small 1/2 lemon

3 celery stalks

400 gram grapes (14 oz)

100 gram walnuts (5.3 oz)

2 apples (I use Honeycrisp apples)

Directions:

Combine Creme Fraiche, sugar, salt and lemon juice, set aside. Clean and cut celery into small pieces. Cut grapes into halves. Chop walnuts into small pieces. Leaving the peel on the apples, dice them into bite size pieces. Add celery, grapes, walnuts and apples to Creme Fraiche. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve on a bed of Boston lettuce or decorate with celery leaves, top with walnuts. Enjoy!

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This pasta salad war originally a caprese pasta salad with mozzarella, but I really don’t like to bite into chunks of mozzarella cheese. So I changed it up a little and replaced the mozzarella with a delicious feta cheese which I love. The dressing for the pasta salad is a wonderful blend of garlic infused olive oil, balsamic vinegar with a background of fresh basil, really flavorful. I hope you enjoy this easy to make and very delicious pasta salad.

Pasta Salad (8-10 servings)

Ingredients:

12 oz. of your favorite pasta, cooked

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

6 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 oz. feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse, set aside. In a small skillet combine olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes (optional) over low heat. Warm oil slowly to allow flavors to infuse, 5-10 minutes. Do not let the garlic take on color. Set aside to cool slightly.

For a beautiful, warm spring day like today I think we need a light and delicious Shrimp Salad served on a small slice of French bread. I’ve had my eye on this Shrimp Salad for quite some time now, and today is the perfect day for it. The most important thing about making it, is to make sure that you get as much liquid out of the shrimp and asparagus as possible and that is difficult to do with the fragile marinated asparagus without squashing them. I still ended up with a little too much liquid in mine but the salad was still wonderful and very fresh tasting. Perhaps next time I’ll try in addition to gently patting the asparagus dry, also letting them sit for awhile on some paper towels to try and absorb some more liquid. This is a really nice, refreshing Shrimp Salad with a hint of lemon. Enjoy!

Shrimp Salad With White Asparagus

Ingredients:

200 grams small shrimp (peeled, deveined and cooked)

16-18 thin white asparagus (marinated in water)

1 deciliter Hellmann’s mayo

1 tablespoon ketchup

a small sprinkle of fresh lemon juice

a pinch of ground chili powder

Directions:

If using frozen shrimp, defrost, drain and thoroughly pat dry the shrimp. Remove asparagus from marinade water, place on paper towel and gently pat dry. It is important to remove as much liquid from shrimp and asparagus as possible to avoid a wet shrimp salad. Cut asparagus into bite size pieces. In a small bowl add mayo, ketchup, lemon juice and chili powder, stir. Add shrimp and asparagus to mayo mixture and gently mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with French bread. Enjoy!

I never liked Danish Karrysalat until I made a homemade version to serve at my Danish Christmas luncheon. You may ask, why did I make it in the first place if I knew I didn’t like it. Well traditionally Karrysalat is a classic topping for marinated herring and marinated herring is a “must” at any self-respecting Danish Christmas luncheon table. And when I tasted my homemade Karrysalat I was instantly hooked because it is so much better than the store-bought kind. Like I mentioned, it’s is served with marinated herring on top of Rugbrød (dark Rye bread) but I could eat it on top of just about any kind of lunch meat. This is super delicious and I recommend that you whip up a batch immediately and enjoy. 🙂

Karrysalat – Curry salad

Ingredients:

3 hard boiled eggs, diced

5 sweet Gherkins, diced (Cornichoner in Danish)

1 tablespoons minced red onion

1 small apple, diced

2 deciliter mayonaise

2 tablespoons creme fraiche

1 teaspoon curry

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/4-1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Dice eggs, gherkins, onion and apple into small pieces. Add remaining ingredients and stir gently to combine. Allow salad to rest in refrigerator for at least a couple of hours before serving. Will keep for about 1 week in refrigerator. Enjoy!

Once a month I get together with a group of wonderful Danish ladies. We’ll meet for afternoon coffee or dinner and we will talk and catch up on what’s going on in our lives and the world. We take turns hosting the party and there is always something delicious to eat on the table…and oh yes, we sing! 🙂 I guess that deserves an explanation. Well, at Danish parties when the company is good, conversations are stimulating, the food is delicious and maybe (or maybe not) the alcohol is flowing, we lock arms and we sing funny Danish drinking songs. It’s a riot.

Mona Eisenbaum

This is the Shrimp Salad that my Danish friend Mona use to serve as an appetizer and it would always disappear very quickly. Mona has since then passed away but her Shrimp Salad lives on at our meetings. Mona was an excellent cook and she would prepare the most delicious dishes for us. She never followed recipes and she told me what was in the Shrimp Salad but no specific amounts. I had tried making it but something was missing and my other Danish friend Kaja finally helped me out with the missing ingredient…pineapple. With this recipe you can choose to turn up the pineapple flavor or the curry, it all depends on your taste buds. I like to be able to taste the curry a little.

Making Shrimp Salad

When I make this I use small frozen deveined cooked shrimp. Make sure they are fully thawed and pat them dry with a paper towel, otherwise the salad will be too watery. I hope you try this delicious Shrimp Salad and enjoy!

Mona’s Shrimp Salad

Mona’s Rejesalat – Mona’s Shrimp Salad

Ingredients:

450 gram cooked, deveined small shrimp (16 oz.)

4 thin slices canned pineapple, diced

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 – 1 teaspoon curry

Directions:

Pat shrimp dry with a paper towel. Dice shrimp and pineapple into small pieces. Add mayonnaise, ketchup and curry, stir gently to combine. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before serving. Serve on freshly baked white bread. Enjoy!

I have been looking for a really good seafood salad and I think I finally found it. This recipe is super delicious! I kept the Old Bay down to just a scant 1/2 teaspoon because often times I think the Old Bay is just too overpowering and it ends up ruining the gently seafood flavors. And of course dill, seafood and lemon juice is a match made in heaven. The flavors enhance the more time you let it rest in the refrigerator so I would recommend you make it several hours before serving. This recipe gave me at least four generous servings. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 ounces cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp

4 ounces cooked crab-meat

1 hard-boiled egg, finely diced

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/8 cup celery, finely diced

1 small shallot, finely diced

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

1/2 scant teaspoon Old Bay

Directions:

Peel, devein and cook shrimp until pink (2-3 minutes). Once shrimp has cooled off, cut into bite size pieces and set aside.

In a small bowl combine mayonnaise, celery, shallot, lemon juice, dill and Old Bay, stir to combine. Add shrimp, crab meat and egg. Toss gently to coat with mayo sauce, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Allow to marinate for at least 1 hour. Serve on fresh bread, crackers, pita wedges or whatever your heat desires. Enjoy!

This months assignment for the Secret Recipe Club was for me to go sneak around A Spoonful of Thyme’s food blog. The site belongs to Kate who is a seasoned traveler (I’m a little jealous here) and her lovely food blog is filled with many, many delicious savory and sweet recipes. Usually I am tempted to go for the sweet recipes but Kate has numerous wonderful shrimp dishes and shrimp is what was on my mind that particular day. And so I pondered for a while over the shrimp dishes and finally settled on this Shrimp and Lime Cocktail.

This shrimp cocktail is a zesty little dish and it’s quick and very easy to prepare. The combination of the tangy lime, sweet ketchup with a little heat from the hot sauce is delicious. The only thing I did differently was to serve it on a bed of baby spinach or even better you could also use finely shredded lettuce. Thanks Kate for sharing your wonderful recipe with all of us 🙂

Ingredients:

1 lb large peeled and deveined shrimp

1 teaspoon grated lime peel

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup ketchup

a dash of hot sauce (optional)

baby spinach or shredded lettuce

Directions:

Cook peeled and deveined shrimp for 3 minutes or until pink, careful not to over-cook. Place in refrigerator to cool.

Using a microplane, grate the green outer layer of the lime and place in a small bowl. Juice the lime and pour juice over the grated peel. Add wine, ketchup and hot sauce (if desired) to lime juice/peel, stir to combine. Pour liquid over shrimp and stir to cover shrimp. Place shrimp back into refrigerator and marinate for at least 3-4 hours, preferably overnight. Serve shrimp cold on a bed of baby spinach or shredded lettuce. Enjoy!

My Danish friend Kaja served this wonderful salad for our last get-together, which she in turn got from my other Danish friend Henriette. It is simple, refreshing and good for you. Kaja served it with walnuts which was very delicious but my favorite kinda nut is pine nuts and so I choose pine for this presentation. The raspberry walnut vinaigrette adds a perfect finishing touch. I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I do.

Kaja's Corn Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup red bell pepper, diced

1 cup cucumber, diced

3/4 cup dried cranberries

Pine Nuts for topping

Ken’s Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette

Directions:

Dice red bell pepper and cucumber to size of corn kernels. Mix together corn, peas, bell pepper, cucumber and cranberries. Drizzle with Raspberry vinaigrette and top with pine nuts. Enjoy!

I was looking for a good Pasta Salad to serve for the “BurleyMen Club” 🙂 aka Artist Blacksmith Group of Tidewater for their monthly meeting held at Gentile Forge. I came across this Pasta Salad and thought it sounded super delicious. Sun-dried tomatoes and Kalamate olives, what a winning combination. And it was delicious!….but….I’m now thinking that it might have been the wrong type of food to serve for all those MEN. Don’t get me wrong, they liked it, but the wrong type of food nonetheless. The sun-dried tomatoes may have been too refined, too delicate and too modern. This Pasta Salad would fit-in much better at my work with all the GIRLS there. I’ll try it out there for our next potluck.

Sun-dried Tomato Dressing

If your not able to find pitted olives use a Cherry Pitter, it works great.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

Dressing:

7 oz Sun-dried Tomatoes in oil, drained

2 small or 1 large Garlic Clove

3 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Salad:

8 oz Spiral Pasta

20 Kalamata Olives (a good handful), sliced or chopped

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes, cut in halves

10 Basil leaves, julienned

1 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

Directions:

In a food processor combine sun-dried tomatoes (drained), garlic, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Start the food processor and add the olive oil in a steady stream. Continue blending until a homogeneous mass. Store in an airtight container for 1-3 hours or preferably until the following day to allow flavors to marry. Note: this dressing recipe makes enough for 2 pasta salads.

Cook pasta in salted water until desired consistency, rinse under cold running water and drain. Add about 1/4 of dressing to pasta and stir. Add cherry tomatoes, olives, Basil and about 2/3 cup Parmesan, stir gently. Continue to add more dressing and Parmesan cheese to your liking. Note: reserve a small amount of Parmesan for topping. Enjoy.

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Joe and I often have Tuna Salad for lunch on Sundays and this is my favorite tuna version. I find that the lemon juice and capers compliment the tuna so well and the russian dressing gives a little extra “zing”. It can be a little difficult to locate a russian dressing but Ken’s Steakhouse Dressing has a really good one. This makes approximately 2-3 servings depending on your appetite.

Ingredients:

6.4 oz package of Albacore Tuna in water

1/2 medium lemon, juiced

2 tbsp mayo

1 tbsp russian dressing

2 tsp capers

kosher salt to taste

Directions:

Drain water from tuna and place in small bowl. Add juice of 1/2 lemon, mayonnaise, russian dressing, capers. Add salt to taste starting with a pinch of salt. Mix well with a fork and serve immediately or place in refrigerator to chill.